Poor power service hampering Region Three water supply – GWI

Even as the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) seeks to drill several other wells to increase the level of services throughout the region, Regional Divisional Manager, Martin Garrick has said that poor electricity supply is having a major impact on the ability of the utility to deliver water to Region 3 residents.

A release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) quotes Garrick as saying that “poor power supply is affecting eight of the company’s wells (on the) West Bank Demerara between Parfaite Harmonie to Vriesland, and Wales and Canal Number Two Polder”.

Garrick said that “electricity is necessary to pump water from the wells to the taps [and] whilst the residents may see power at their homes, the quality of supply at the well stations cannot suffice (for) the operations of those wells, so sometimes [there is] no water supply.”

Martin Garrick

According to GINA, the Regional Divisional Manager said that the water company is working with the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to address the issue, including reducing the downtime.

He went on to detail some of the recent successes of the entity in the region noting that GWI has managed to improve the level of service in Hubu, East Bank Essequibo by re-activating the area’s well; an intervention which resulted in the level of service, moving from ground level in most areas, to second floor level.

GWI has also after one year been able to restore services to the Parika Façade area, Garrick said.

2017 however promises to be better, Garrick said, explaining that the plans are in place to drill wells in the new housing schemes of Parfaite Harmonie, Westminster, Schoonord and Lust-en-Rust.

The end of this year is expected to see GWI having completed the installation of distribution mains in the un-served areas of Zeelugt, and some parts of Parika. With areas such as the Parika Zone and Tuschen set to benefit from intervention. The Tuschen system is set to be re-sleeved.

“So whilst we have some challenges some amount of work is being done,” Garrick reportedly noted.